Age shall not weary him... the war victim of just 14

But for 14-year-old Reginald Earnshaw the Nazis were as real and deadly as the bombs their planes were dropping on his merchant ship, the SS North Devon, during the Second World War.

Today the sacrifices of an earlier generation of very young men – and in some cases children – will be remembered at a ceremony in memory of the Yorkshire-born Reggie who has now been confirmed as Britain's youngest known service casualty of the 1939 to 1945 conflict.

He was just 14 years and 152 days old when he died along with five other sailors in an attack by German bombers on July 6, 1941. The Merchant Navy cabin boy had lied about his age, claiming he was 15, so he could join the war effort.

Official confirmation of Reggie's age by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) became possible after his sister, Pauline Harvey, responded to their appeal for his relatives to come forward.

Mrs Harvey, 77, and her great-niece Jenny will mark Reggie's birthday today by laying flowers at his grave in Comely Bank Cemetery, Edinburgh.

There, she will meet relatives of Douglas Crichton and Reg Mitchell, who were also killed in the attack off the Norfolk coast.

Mrs Harvey, a retired teacher from Epworth in North Lincolnshire, who was nine when her brother was killed, said: "I am immensely grateful to so many people who helped research my brother's forgotten story, and to the War Graves Commission for providing his grave with a headstone."

Mrs Harvey said Reggie was a "very bright, lively young lad" who was always full of fun and mischief.

She said her mother knew he had signed up and did not stand in his way. "I don't know that he went with her blessing, but she knew where he was. If she hadn't let him go he would have run away."

Reggie's story came to light after a shipmate led a four-year quest to find out what happened to his friend.

Former machine gunner Alf Tubb was 18 when their merchant ship was bombed by German aircraft on its way to Tyneside. He returned fire before rushing to the engine room to find Reggie but was beaten back by steam.

"He was trapped in his cabin," said Mr Tubb. "I tried desperately to get to him but the steam was like a scalding wall. That image has stayed with me forever."

Mr Tubb recalls Reggie as a "cheerful lad" who looked very young. "I don't think he enjoyed the sea life too much – I remember him saying that he was looking forward to going back home to see his mum."

More than four years ago, Mr Tubb, 86, of Swansea, decided to find out where the youngster had been laid to rest and he tracked down information through an internet appeal.

It emerged that Reggie's body had lain in an unmarked grave in Edinburgh for decades.

Thanks to Mr Tubb's efforts, a permanent granite headstone was erected by the CWGC last summer in a ceremony the pensioner was able to attend.

Mr Tubb has been informed of the latest development and it is understood he and Mrs Harvey have plans to meet up.

It is now known that Reggie was born in Dewsbury, on February 5, 1927 to Dorothy Earnshaw, who was apparently unmarried and "of no occupation" at the time of his birth.

On his birth certificate, Reggie's father is not named and his mother's address was the Millers Arms in Healey, Ossett, near Wakefield. His death certificate lists his job as cabin boy and his age "about 15 years".

The family moved to the Granton area of Edinburgh in 1939 when Reggie was 12.

Ranald Leask, of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said: "Having last year erected a headstone at Reggie's grave, we at the War Graves Commission are very pleased that Mrs Harvey contacted us.

"She will now be able to choose an inscription for her brother's headstone and provide Reggie with a fitting final tribute."

A history of children at arms

From ancient Sparta to the Spanish Civil War, child soldiers have been the norm for thousands of years.

In 1863, soon after American President Abraham Lincoln introduced the Medal of Honor it was awarded to Willie Johnson, a 13-year-old who stood just five feet tall.

He had enlisted in the army at 11 and received the highest medal for bravery at 12.

During the battle of Berlin in 1945, German boys reportedly as young as ten fought against the Russians and, in turn, the Red Army had used boy soldiers.

In the Iran-Iraq war both sides used boy soldiers, the former to clear

minefields and as advance attack waves.

One of the most notorious regimes to use children, both boys and girls, was the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the late 1970s.

Terrorists and revolutionaries have also employed children to do their work, from the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka to Palestinian and Arab suicide bombers.